€15m fairytale castle in the kingdom of Kerry

Gargoyles guard the gates of this remarkable 21st century castle, built from the ruins of a folly in the woods overlooking Kenmare Bay writes Property Editor Orna Mulcahy

From a distance, the castle rising from the mists on the shores of Kenmare Bay looks as though it has been there forever. Up close, once you've driven through gates guarded by gargoyles, An Culu reveals itself.

It's a gleaming, floodlit, brand new castle - the first to be built in Ireland since Victorian times - and it comes with all the trimmings: a moat and a drawbridge, turrets and towers, a grotto-style swimming pool in the dungeon, and gas-fired torches that can be activated by remote control to impress your guests.

The only thing missing is Rapunzel letting her hair down from the top floor.

Joint agents Knight Frank Ganly Walters and Sherry FitzGerald Daly are asking €15 million for the six-bedroom castle which stands in five acres of of woodland.

Originally a folly of nearby Dromore Castle, An Culu was spotted from the water by an English businessman who was fishing in the bay.

He persuaded Coillte, which owns the surrounding woodland, to sell him the tower, which was in ruins, along with some land and set about building a fairytale castle that would be a fortress on the outside, and a home within.

It took three years to build using teams of craftsmen from all over Ireland and the UK as well as local stonemasons and joiners.

Money was clearly no object for the owner, who has Irish connections which are highlighted in a magnificent heraldic stained glass window decorated with a coat of arms and mottos.

The spec is impressive with rooms lined in heavy silk, elaborate plastered and painted ceilings, deep pile carpets running from room to room and vast fireplaces you could roast an ox in.

Now the owner is moving on, and An Culu is being sold with most of its contents, including antique furniture, paintings and tapestries, cleverly concealed televisions, and a fantastic French throne-style toilet complete with a musical flush.

The entrance is to through a castellated gate house shared with Dromore, a Victorian Gothic castle which was built in the 1830s for the O'Mahony family.

It's a long winding drive down through the Coillte-owned forest to the gates of An Culu,where the entrance is marked by a huge tumbling waterfall.

You could also arrive by boat, mooring in the property's private harbour. Cross the drawbridge and you enter a courtyard protecing the heavy studded front door complete with peep hole.

Inside, the baronial-style accommodation rambles over almost 929sq m (10,000sq ft), with rooms leading off the many landings and half landings of an impressive stone staircase zigzagging up through four flights. Viewers might want to start at the bottom, with the grotto-style swimming pool and its Jacuzzi cave. Curved sofas hug the walls, while a mirrored arch makes the pool seem bigger still.

From here, guests can be whooshed up to the the very top of the castle - in the velvet-padded lift - to what is undoubtedly the finest room in the house.

It's the family livingroom, with a high -domed ceiling painted with clouds scudding across a heavenly blue sky that can be washed with mood lighting to create different colours. Huge squashy sofas are grouped around a big open fireplace, but you could also curl up on one of several deeply padded window seats, all of which offer stunning views across the bay. Tucked away at this level is a kitchen, as the family likes to have barbecues on the torch-lit terrace as much as possible .

The next flight down has the main bedroom suite with its luxurious canopied bed and cosy sittingroom with more window seats and a fireplace.

Here and in each of the bedrooms, fabric covered walls create a sense of cocooned luxury that make An Culu an ideal winter home. The suite has two bathrooms - she can enjoy a glorious view from the bath while he has a steam room and power shower.

The second floor has three en suite bedrooms while the first floor has two further large and opulent bedrooms as well as a bathroom and a study. The landing overlooks the drawingroom below, which is focused on a vast Bath stone fireplace fitted with a stove.

Double doors guarded by suits of armour lead through to a lofty tented conservatory with shuttered windows that give alnost panoramic views of the bay.

There's a romantic winter diningroom where candles gutter on a huge tiered wrought-iron chandelier, and a sideboard groans with silver and crystal. Next door is the kitchen, a hard-working space with a restaurant standard stove and hand-made solid walnut units and ceiling beams.

A terrace off the kitchen overlooks the moat - where you could catch a trout for tea. Otherwise it's a short stroll into the the woods to collect eggs from the henhouses.

By the drawbridge is a separate tower, the interior of which is fitted out as wine cellar.

Nearby Dromore Castle is wreathed in history. Designed by the great Victorian architect Thomas Deane, it was built for the Rev Denis Mahony, a minister of the Church of Ireland and a keen proselytiser.

He set up a soup kitchen at Dromore during the famine and dressed and educated local children, as long as they converted to the Protestant faith. The castle remained in the Mahony family until 1905. It is now owned by Kanturk businessman Kevin O'Callaghan who plans to restore.

Meanwhile, the owners of An Culu have had several approaches from film companies and from rental agencies looking to hire An Culu but they have turned them all down. For them it is, as the name translates, a retreat from the world.